Tchenguiz shifts stake in Mitchells & Butlers
Violet Capital, the vehicle used by Robert Tchenguiz to build a stake in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), has declared that it no longer has a notifiable stake in the pub and restaurant group.
Last month, shortly after withdrawing a £4.4bn bid for the business, Violet announced that it had built a 5.7% share- holding in the group with a further 2.7% held via contracts for difference.
As Violet revealed it had reduced its stake to less than 3%, it emerged that Cantor Fitzgerald had declared a doubling of its own stake in M&B, to about 6.5%, prompting suggestions that Tchenguiz had transferred part of his direct equity stake to Cantor.
Tchenguiz's offer of 550p a share was rejected by the M&B board because it "materially undervalued the group and its prospects".
Tchenguiz had been working with Apax Partners, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Kaupthing.
All these parties are understood to be shareholders in Violet Capital. Tchenguiz and his partners are blocked from making another bid for M&B for six months, after the last bid in May was rejected.
One City source commented: "Tchenguiz seems to be switching his stake around. One advantage of this is that he might be able to build his stake in Mitchells & Butlers more discreetly. That will probably allow him to buy it cheaper, too. If he is increasing his stake in M&B through contracts for difference, he could get up to the 30% mark pretty anonymously."
A City analyst added: "I still doubt whether Tchenguiz can capture M&B, but there's no doubt that the management is highly incentivised to boost the share price.
"At the end of the six-month shut-out Tchenguiz may not be successful if he launches a fresh bid, but he is very likely to make money on his investment in the company."
